Hackers Deface Actress Leslie Jones's Website

Leslie Jones, a co-star of this year’s “Ghostbusters” movie who has been besieged in the past month by online abusers who have targeted her appearance and her race, was victimized again when her personal website appeared to have been hacked. The hackers inserted a picture of the gorilla Harambe on the site, and exposed what appeared to be explicit photos of the actress, along with pictures of her driver’s license and a passport, and images of her with stars like Rihanna, Kanye West and Kim Kardashian West.

France, Germany Want EU to Require Message Decryption

France and Germany  urged the European Union’s executive body to propose new rules that would compel operators of internet messaging services to help authorities decrypt private communications as part of terror investigations. French and German intelligence services are struggling to intercept messages of Islamic State militants and other terrorists, who increasingly use chat apps like Facebook’s WhatsApp, Apple Inc.’s iMessage or privacy-centric app Telegram to plan their attacks.

Canada, Australia Say Ashley Madison Violated Privacy Laws

The parent company of infidelity dating website Ashley Madison was responsible for numerous violations of privacy laws at the time of a massive release of customer data in a cyber attack last year, privacy watchdogs in Canada and Australia said. The two countries launched an investigation after the 2015 breach of Avid Life Media Inc's computer network, when hackers exposed the personal details of millions who signed up for the site with the slogan "Life is short. Have an affair."

WikiLeaks Inadvertently Exposes Private Medical, Financial Info

WikiLeaks' global crusade to expose government secrets is causing collateral damage to the privacy of hundreds of innocent people, including survivors of sexual abuse, sick children and the mentally ill, The Associated Press has found. In the past year alone, the radical transparency group has published medical files belonging to scores of ordinary citizens while many hundreds more have had sensitive family, financial or identity records posted to the web.

Judge Pushes State Dep't to Release More Clinton Emails

Questions surrounding Hillary Clinton’s email practices flared up again, with a Federal District Court judge ordering the State Department to provide a timetable for releasing nearly 15,000 new emails uncovered by the FBI investigation of her personal email account and server while she was secretary of state. The judge, James E. Boasberg, pressed the State Department to accelerate its review of those emails, which were on a disc that the FBI turned over to the department in late July.

ACLU Opposes Homeland Security's Social Media Visa Plans

A coalition of 28 organizations including the ACLU and the Center for Democracy and Technology signed a letter expressing opposition to the Department of Homeland Security’s proposal to include social media in its review of visa-waiver applicants. The groups argued that such a proposal would not be effective, would cost too much and would impinge on privacy.

Judge Rejects Uber's $100 Million Settlement with Drivers

A California federal judge knocked down a proposed $100 million settlement in a class-action suit over whether Uber's drivers should be classified as contractors or employees. U.S. District Judge Edward Chen's order rejecting Uber's offer noted that the settlement amount was only 10 percent of what lawyers for the drivers estimate that Uber could owe them and provided only $1 million toward state penalties that could add up to more than $1 billion.

Attacks on Bitcoin Industry Expected to Continue

Even as a $65 million hacking incident on Bitfinex has triggered calls for audits in certain parts of the bitcoin industry, experts don’t anticipate the investigations will unearth new ways of radically strengthening protection. What’s more telling, they say, is that the community’s willingness to vilify targets while shrugging off the need for industry-wide solutions is a sign it’s doomed to happen again.

Australian Regulators Reject Banks' Joint Negotiations with Apple

Australia's anti-trust regulator said it would not grant the country's three biggest banks interim approval to collectively negotiate with Apple Inc to install their own electronic payments applications on iPhones. Australia's three biggest banks, including the number one lender National Australia Bank (NAB), last month lodged a joint application seeking permission to negotiate as a bloc from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

Twitter Suspends 235,000 Accounts That Promoted Terrorism

Twitter suspended 235,000 accounts that promoted terrorism over the last six months, as part of a continuing effort to keep people from using the social network for extremist causes, the company said. Twitter also said it has expanded its teams that review reported violations, and it now moves faster to suspend accounts and make it harder for suspended users to return to the platform.

Cybersecurity Policy Experts Explore Clinton, Trump Policies

The Washington Post reached out to cybersecurity policy experts, including academics, think-tankers and officials from previous Republican and Democratic administrations and asked them evaluate both presidential candidates' cybersecurity policy strategies and whether they were more concerned about Hillary Clinton's private email server or Donald Trump's hacking comments.

White House Plans ICANN Shift for October 1

The Obama administration said it will formally shift authority for much of the internet’s governance to a nonprofit multi-stakeholder entity on Oct. 1, a move likely to spark a backlash from parts of Congress. The administration -- as well as many in the high-tech community -- regard the long-planned move as necessary to maintain international support for the internet and prevent a fracturing of its governance.

Cisco Issues Warning, Fix After Hacking Linked to NSA Operation

American firewall providers Cisco and Fortinet have issued warnings and fixes for bugs exposed by the Shadow Brokers, who claimed to have breached the Equation Group, believed to be an NSA operation. Cisco and Fortinet had initially determined there was little of concern in the leak, but after researchers showed how the respective technologies could be exploited, the tech firms have taken action to protect customers.

Russia, Google Fail to Reach Android Antitrust Settlement

Russia's state anti-monopoly watchdog FAS said it and Alphabet Inc's Google had failed to reach an out-of-court settlement in a case over Google's Android operating system, Interfax news agency reported. The watchdog last week imposed a 438 million ruble ($6.85 million) fine on Google after ruling last year that the firm was abusing its dominance by requiring the pre-installation of certain applications on mobile devices using Android, following a complaint by Russia's Yandex.

Subscribe

The GigaLaw Firm helps companies of all sizes protect their brands online, using domain name dispute policies – such as the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) – and other legal tools available to copyright and trademark owners on the Internet.